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We’re back in the strangest town in America (Picture: Lynch/Frost Productions)

Guaranteed spoiler-free, whether you’ve seen the original or not.

How much do I love Twin Peaks?

Enough to have studied it at university. Enough to have bought it on DVD twice. And enough to be sitting in my lounge at two in the morning, watching the series three premiere on Sky Atlantic.

Twin Peaks is one of those shows we thought we’d never see again. You can have too much of a good thing, but sometimes not enough of a really great thing.

For those of us who were there the first time round, it was incredibly frustrating.

We watched helplessly as the show jumped the shark, seemingly losing its way in a flurry of ridiculous plotlines and second-rate dialogue, before suddenly regaining its mojo right before it was cancelled, ending on an unresolved cliffhanger.

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A place both wonderful and strange

(Picture: Lynch/Frost Productions)

‘Twin Peaks is done,’ director and co-creator David Lynch said more than once, and we believed him. So when the news broke that it was finally returning after twenty-five years in the wilderness, I could scarcely contain my excitement – and nor could the rest of the fandom.

But revivals carry an element of risk.

Last year’s X-Files event series demonstrated how easy it is to produce something brilliant and contemporary, making the most of your assets, and then undo it all in a heartbeat (and if you saw that final episode, you’ll know what I’m talking about).

How much would our memories be tainted by a sloppy, nostalgia-driven period piece, unceremoniously updated for the iPhone generation?

I needn’t have worried – because the new Twin Peaks is quietly brilliant (and I do mean that literally).

You remind me today of a small, Mexican chihuahua

Trying to do the show without him is like losing an arm (and if you’ve watched the original, you’ll understand why that’s funny). From the very first shot – a familiar location, filmed in eerie monochrome – it’s clear that this is something different.

But not that different. If you’ve seen any of the director’s other work, you’ll spot the traits immediately.

This is a show that takes its time with just about everything. The camera zooms in slowly and steadily towards a particular person or object – or lingers in the distance, as if spying. There are long periods of silence, background music all but absent.

(Picture: Lynch/Frost Productions)

It’s thoughtful and understated. Characters say mundane things with the sort of strange emphasis that will have you puzzling over what they really mean.

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And there is a bit with a tree that reminded me of several exhibits at the Tate Modern. No one but Lynch could have pulled this off with such panache. (There’s no jazz yet, but give him time.)

When you see me again, it won’t be me

But make no mistake: this is not the self-contained soap opera it once was. It may be called Twin Peaks, but that doesn’t mean it has to stay there.

Within minutes of those first scenes in the Washington lumber town, we’re somewhere else entirely – and what’s more, we stay there for quite a long time.

(Picture: Lynch/Frost Productions)

There is also sex, bad language and more than a little violence – blood features heavily, and it’s not really a spoiler to say that the first part of the story includes a rather unusual corpse.

Perhaps that’s why it succeeds: Lynch and Frost have taken the format and updated it, without losing the essence of what they originally created.

Some may find it jarring; I prefer to think of it as the show that Lynch always wanted to make, but couldn’t because he had all those nasty network executives looking over his shoulder and demanding that he tell us who killed Laura Palmer.

Watching the new series you immediately realise that this is no longer an issue. Twin Peaks has amassed such a reputation over the years that Showtime clearly thought it was fine to give Lynch and Frost a free hand, and it shows.

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But should you be watching it if you’ve not seen the original?

It all cannot be said aloud now

And in many ways he’s absolutely right. These inaugural episodes introduce a bunch of new characters and settings – some of which have an obvious bearing on the plot, while others are still a plastic-wrapped enigma – but there are so many flashbacks to the original that new viewers run the risk of being seriously alienated.

Characters reappear in both new and familiar contexts. There are references to things that happened long ago, and large chunks of dialogue are lifted word for word from some of the show’s iconic scenes.

Without giving away any details, this is a programme that directly follows on from its first two series, and seeks to resolve that cliffhanger I mentioned earlier. If you’re not familiar with the source material, you’re likely to be left thoroughly confused.

But that needn’t be a bad thing. Most of us didn’t really understand it the first time. Actually, most of us don’t understand it now. Heck, I don’t think even David Lynch understands it. He’s a visionary in the most literal sense – finding beauty in the everyday, and forever looking at the world through a lens. It is this sense of uniqueness that marks him out as one of the great artists of the last forty years.

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This is TV that seeks to present itself without the need to explain everything it’s doing. That in itself is nothing new – although the fact that we’re used to indecipherable, mystery-driven stories is a reflection on the influence of the first two series. Without Twin Peaks, there would be no X-Files, or Lost, or 24 – and so on, and so on.

But where Lynch and Frost’s masterpiece differs – both in the original and in what we’ve seen of its updated version – is that we don’t expect to have our questions answered. It’s enough for the world of Twin Peaks to present itself, just as it is. Things happen simply because they happen. And in a world where we look for explanations in absolutely everything, that sort of approach is a real tonic.

Seriously, what are you still doing here? It’s back. That cherry pie won’t eat itself.

Twin Peaks (parts 1 and 2) will be repeated on May 23 at 9pm. Parts 3 and 4 are also available now from Sky Atlantic’s on-demand service.